Here Are The 10 Unhealthiest Counties In New Mexico

We recently created an article about the 10 healthiest counties in our state. Today, we’re using the same data from County Health Rankings and Roadmaps to look at the unhealthiest counties in New Mexico.

These statistics factor in things like health behaviors, clinical care, the physical environment, along with social and economic factors. They assess length of life and how healthy people feel.

While there are doubtless healthy people living in counties that scored poorly and unhealthy ones residing in counties that did well, these numbers are useful in identifying overall trends.

Smoking rates are relatively low in Colfax County and 81% of residents have easy access to places to exercise. However, a quarter of residents don't work out and the ratio of doctors and dentists available to the population is subpar.

The percentage of people who report being in poor or fair health carries more weight in these results than factors such as access to exercise. The other stats for San Miguel County aren't too bad, but that one measure probably explains the county's low ranking.

This article only focuses on a few of the factors that determine each county's score. Rio Arriba County does relatively well on the stats we've concentrated on. However, social and economic factors like the county's unemployment rate, the percentage of children living in poverty, and crime stats lowered its ranking.

Despite low crime rates, and a decent food environment, a massive 33% of residents in Mora County report that their health is only fair or poor. This is presumably what earned the county the bottom spot.

Do these findings surprise you? How do you think we can improve health across our state?

*Harding County’s data was incomplete, so it couldn’t be included in the rankings. An unofficial scan of the stats for this county suggests it would fall somewhere in the middle of the pack.